Living the Upbeat Life


SANTA ROSA, CA. ~ Play is a universal language, and even the evolution of a simple game can become a great connector of persons, and keeper of souls. This tale goes


back a few years, but always puts a smile on my face, as I hope it will yours. I’d just fi nished performing an upbeat pop tune for a small group of enthused singalong seniors at a lovely nursing home. Spurred on by the happy faces encircling me, I let loose a high-pitched, slowly decrescendo-ing, vow- eled fi nale: “aaahhhhhh!” In- stantly, a couple of approving elders, ready to play along, echoed a second, rousing “aah- hhhhhh!” piercing the other- wise staid and proper environs. As our laughter subsided, a rush of memo- ries


transport- ed


me


back four years ear- lier to an Alzheim- er’s com- munity in Calaba- sas, Cali-


fornia, back to the huge dining room where I gave my enter- tainment


programs. Seated


in the front row was a woman known to me as “just Kay,” clutching her prized possession of three VCR fi lms wrapped neatly, sometimes in a cloth napkin, sometimes in Kleenex tissues. Kay was a devoted fan who knew the words to many songs. She grew increasingly withdrawn as her disease pro- gressed but nevertheless, Kay would punctuate the ending of any rousing tune with a hardy, perfectly pitched, voweled high


PLAYFULNESS


note: “Ahhhh!”. It evolved into


a fun game, cascading


down off the high tone, getting everyone present in- volved. We named it “the waterfall,” adding arm move- ments up in the sky, fl uttering back down to our sides.


I tried out wa-


terfalling on other seniors and wheel-


chaired patients on my circuit with the same merry results. Older and younger players alike from low to high functioning let loose with “look-what-sil- ly-fun-we’re-having-getting- away-with-this” grins. Some- times attending staff would join in, too, enjoying the endorphin rush, banishing the tense ‘men- tal cooties’ that thrive in stress- ful roles. And for the most frail among us, it even offered gen- tle ex- ercise. Two such aging friends were Jean and


Clara, best


friends at a board and care


home. In their 90s, sporting sweat pants, shirts and slippers --and pearl necklaces for my Tuesday visits, the girls insist- ed we “do the waterfall thing” over and over. Today, the game has un-


expectedly reintroduced itself to a whole new group of play- ers. I get to be a playful honey bee pollinating dear, singing fl owers in yet another garden. And marvel at how playfulness transformed the spontaneous outburst of an otherwise with- drawn Alzheimer’s patient into a community-building exercise


with a life of its own. And how the evolution of the play helps keep the scent of Kay’s origi- nating spirit alive in the mix as we spread the joy around. How small the world seems to me this moment as I share my sweet tale of Kay with my new class. I tell them they can nev- er know when a smile, a tear, a story they tell me, a request for a song or a spontaneous outburst will wind up as pollen on my feet as I travel around my corners of the planet, caus- ing me to note the ecology of our connection in the Great Scheme O’ Things. We carry one another along wherever we go in so many, unforeseeable ways. all.


your January be fi lled with blessings and sweet surprises,


BUYING U.S. GOLD COINS


Mon Jan 1 – West Cost Songwriters Tues Jan 2 – Rock Overtime Student Performance


Wed Jan 3 – Irish Set Dancing Thurs Jan 4 – Le Hot Club Swing Fri Jan 5 – Bobby Jo Valentine Sat Jan 6 – Oepn Belly with Nathalie Tedrick Sun Jan 7 – Gypsy Kisses Thurs Jan 11 – Craig Caffall Band Fri Jan 12 – Marshall House Project with special guests Silas Fermoy Sat Jan 13 – Afro Funk Experience (pending) Sat Jan 20 – The Quitters Wed Jan 17 – Irish Set Dancing Fri Jan 19 – Bohemian Highway Sun Jan 21 – Gold Coast Jazz Band Tues Jan 23 – Pop Up Jazz Jam Fri Jan 26 – Oddjob Ensemble Tue Jan 30 – Gailene’s Students’ Showcase


Open Mic with DJ Loisaida every Monday except the fi rst one.


Live Entertainment Nightly, check our full schedule on website.


Restaurant & Music Venue 8240 Old Redwood Hwy, Cotati 707.795.7868


RedwoodCafe.com “The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge.” ~ Daniel J. Boorstin UPBEAT TIMES, INC. • January 2018 • 19


$1.00 GOLD...............................................................$140.00 & up $2.50 GOLD...............................................................$190.00 & up $3.00 GOLD...............................................................$550.00 & up $5.00 GOLD...............................................................$260.00 & up $10.00 GOLD.............................................................$520.00 & up $20.00 GOLD..........................................................$1,150.00 & up $50.00 GOLD 1851 to 1855..................................$10,000.00 & up


BUYING


SILVER DIMES 1964 & Before...................................... $1.04 & up SILVER QUARTERS 1964 & Before..............................$2.60 & up SILVER HALF 1964 & Before.........................................$5.20 & up SILVER HALF 1965 to 1970...........................................$1.43 & up SILVER DOLLAR 1878 to 1904....................................$17.00 & up SILVER DOLLAR 1921 to 1935....................................$13.00 & up


HALF CENTS 1793-1857 LARGE CENTS 1793-1857


BUYING – OLDER U.S. COINS –BUYING DIMES 1796-1891


$30.00 & up $10.00 & up


FLYING EAGLE CENTS 1856-1858 $12.00 & up TWO & THREE CENTS 1851-1889 HALF DIMES 1794-1873


SHIELD NICKELS 1866-1883 LIBERTY NICKELS 1883-1913 . BUFFALO NICKELS 1913-1938


$7.00 & up $7.00 & up $8.00 & up .40 & up .25 & up


TWENTY CENTS 1875-1878 QUARTERS 1796-1891


HALF DOLLARS 1794-1839 HALF DOLLARS 1839-1891 DOLLARS 1794-1804


TRADE DOLLARS 1873-1885


$7.00 & up $55.00 & up $11.00 & up $30.00 & up $14.00 & up $700.00 & up $45.00 & up


SEATED DOLLARS 1840-1873 $150.00 & up


UPBEAT TIMES, INC. • January 2018 • 19 Weird Facts & Trivia - 5 by Marcia Singer ~www.lovearts.info


giving and receiving to and from one another from our hearts, sharing our talents, pas- sions, joys, compassion. And may the spirit of Play-fullness pay you lots of visits in 2018. Let’s let our inner kid energy out!


Shining deLight, Marcia


The liver of polar bears con- tains such a high concentration of vitamin A that it is toxic.


Pop Rocks were introduced by General Foods in 1974. Ever since 1956, when company research chemist


William Mitchell found a way to put carbon dioxide into a solid, General Foods had searched for a product to market using this process.


It’s a small world after Happy New Us Year! May


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